Security at your event, your office, or even your hotel doesn’t start and stop with a team of intimidating guys in suits. In fact, some of the most efficient and effective security can’t be seen.

After years in the events space, we know one of the biggest threats to security starts with counterfeit tickets and making sure only the people who are supposed to be inside are inside. Interestingly, it’s as easy as taking advantage of your unique branding, creativity, and a little bit of technology.

To help you make informed decisions that enhance the security of your event, we’ll be going over what types of security measures actually make a difference. This includes artwork, add-ons, locks, barcodes, RFID solutions and more.

Security 101

When it comes to the security of your event, there’s no doubt it starts with your credentials. Guaranteeing that only the people who are meant to be in are in, that transactions are happening as they should, and that you’re actually at the capacity you say you are is everything. Unfortunately, counterfeit passes are possible, but by adding built-in security features to your passes, you’re able to nearly guarantee your event is as secure as possible.

In our experience, the best kind of security is simple and effective. At large events, that means credentials that are easy to identify by sight, that are unique enough to not be copied, and that can’t be transferred.

To hit all three, we love RFIDs but you should always tailor your features to your needs. Fortunately, technology is on our side and there are a lot of a la carte features we can add to your credentials so that before your event even starts, your security is stronger than it’s ever been.

8 Ways to Enhance Your Security with the Right Event Credentials

Here are 8 ways to enhance your security when choosing your credentials:

1. Wristband Locks

This is a feature unique to wristband credentials because you can’t include a lock for lanyards, laminates or keycards. When it comes to wristband credentials, you can purchase more economical options — like paper credentials — but they will never be as secure.

When it comes down to it, there are a few standard options for locks, but we recommend a barrel lock. This plastic tube slides one way onto the wristband, locking on with plastic teeth that grip the fabric when pulled back.

Convenient, economical and highly secure, this addition makes sure your wristband stays where it should (ie – on the guest who purchased its wrist, not a friend and then another friend’s). If you decide to go with a tyvek paper wristband, they’ll be secured with a self-adhesive tab. Don’t be worried! This adhesive works well, does the job and prevents a lot of transfers. However, it’s not nearly as secure as a custom cloth wristband barrel lock.

2. Customize Your Art

If you’re relying on stock colored wristbands to signify levels of access and different day access, you’re not really securing your event at all. Once someone notices the credential is easily obtained at a bulk store, they can go buy their own and hand out as many as they’d like.

However, if you create custom artwork for your credentials, it’s nearly impossible for an attendee to guess what art you’ll use, how it will look, and what features you’ll include. Even better, you can use the same branded look and feel across all your credentials, giving a sense of cohesive consistency while signifying different levels of access for VIPs, talent, etc. This makes it easy for security to identify on sight who can go where.

3. Add a Photo

It’s hard to fake what your face looks like, especially when it’s right there on your badge. Often used for conventions, this is a great way to ensure your passes aren’t being shared among multiple attendees.

When ordering, your client can upload all the images and data relevant to each attendee, making it easy to pre-print badges long before the event even begins. If printing on-site, it’s possible to take a photo there, add it to the guest’s data, and print it right then.

4. UV Wristbands and Laminates

Whether it’s UV thread directly woven into the fabric of the wristband or a UV print on a laminate, ultraviolet light is visible under a blacklight, immediately identifying real from fake credentials. Think of it like glow in the dark ink.

To make sure a pass or wristband is authentic, you can either equip your staff with UV wands or UV readers at specific checkpoints. This means that even if someone can make a credential that looks exactly like the real thing, it won’t pass the test when scanned for UV light.

5. Go Metal for VIP

More costly, but far more secure. Metal badges and credentials are hard to duplicate because they’re not widely available or easy to fake. Customize them with artwork, holograms, shapes, and more. They’re easy to identify by sight, touch and scan.

6. Security Foils and Holograms

This add-on quickly takes your security up a few notches all at once. Use your art and just add a little enhancement with printing security foils and holograms directly onto your badges or wristbands. This addition immediately makes fakes easy to identify and keep out.

7. Barcodes and QR Codes

By adding a sequence of numbers, QR codes or scannable barcodes to your wristbands or laminates, it’s a pretty basic (but successful) way to improve access and identification. By using barcodes, you’re able to generate a unique code per ticket, so once that code has been scanned, it won’t grant access for any additional scans of that same code. Tried and tested, barcodes immediately up security.

8. RFID

High-tech with high results, RFID technology not only helps your event go cashless, but it helps you create contactless access control, and create secure connections.

Why You Should Choose RFID Technology for Event Credentialing

When it comes to security, adding RFID technology to your event is the move. Not only are they excellent pieces of wearable promotion for your event, but they’re a reasonable choice for all types of events, not just huge music festivals.

From races to cashless payments, RFID makes your guests’ experience easier, with less lines, and far more interactive. From linking their emails, social media, and wallet to their credentials, guests can be located (in case separated from their group), they don’t have to carry items like credit cards or cash (which can be lost), and their credentials cannot be stolen or lost (if they are, they can easily have the lost credential deactivated and a new one activated).

10 Benefits of RFID Event

Credentialing

In fact, here are some of the security benefits of RFID enhanced events:

1. Speed

Lines don’t have to happen and RFID is one of the easiest ways to make sure crowds are moving and bottlenecks aren’t. There’s no question that lines are not only unsafe, but they impact morale, prevent spending, and can impact everything from start time to the bottom line.

Enter RFIDs. Because of their ability to quickly move large groups securely, RFID credentials make it possible to move upwards of 20 more people per minute per gate per scanner.

The difference is that each RFID band has a unique tag, making it possible to guarantee security. Since guests’ RFID tags can be read up to a few meters away, they don’t have to stop and wait to be scanned individually by a barcode reader. This saves time from guests searching for tickets, dealing with wrinkled or damaged tickets, and trying to get a barcode reader to read.

Even better, RFID has the built-in ability to handle re-entry for multiple day events while also providing easy access to multiple zones. Now your security team can focus on security, not on being trained to fix and interpret scanners. By reducing human error when it comes to scanning, you need less staff at the gates because there are less issues.

2. Real-time Insights

This is one of the coolest, and most useful, features of RFID. Truly, data is king. Why? Because it gives you the ability to no longer make assumed or biased decisions based on experience or optics.

Instead, you are able to see hard facts when it comes to how many guests are at your event, where they are, how they move, when they go somewhere, what areas are crowded, and what sort of purchases they make. With immediate, real-time insights, you are able to re-stock merchandise, add food orders, open up an extra gate, add lanes, etc.

By seeing areas guests use as high-traffic zones, you can add points of sale to add easy upticks to your revenue. After all, adding a concession or merchandise booth where the people already are makes your chance of a sale that much higher. Of course, you can also use that data to redistribute toilets, add first aid stations, place high paying sponsors in the most trafficked areas, and more.

Additionally, you can track exactly how many guests attended a certain speaker or performance, who left when, and more. Truly, the opportunity for usable and game-changing insights makes all the difference.

3. Stop Fraud Before it Starts

The nature of RFID technology makes it impossible to create a counterfeit credential. Unlike print-at-home tickets, laminates, wristbands, or traditional tickets, RFID chips each have a unique identifier that cannot be duplicated. Even if an attendee loses their ticket, they don’t have to miss out on the event. Now, they deactivate their old pass and activate a new one.

4. Cashless/Touchless Payments

Back in the day, you’d have to deal with endless lines for cash, waiting for credit card transactions to go through, lost cards, and so much more. With RFID, your guests can digitally attach their card to their credential, eliminating the need to bring cash or a very losable wallet to the event.

By using a linked digital wallet, attendees are more likely to spend money (up to 35% more) without the worry of loss or theft. Even better? Touchless and cashless payments mean your transactions are faster, more secure, and instantly safer for staff and guests alike.

5. Incorporate Sponsors

Now sponsors don’t have to fight for space on your credential, they can instead create more meaningful and engaged interactions with your guests through their RFID tags. From raffles to competitions, voting in polls, using their badge to sign-up, and more, guests can share their data with sponsors and sponsors can easily monitor and track engagement to see the clear return on their investment.

6. Up Engagement

From photo booths to giveaways, engagement is as easy as tapping and going. Since each RFID badge is linked to an individual, you can create multiple points of engagement throughout your event that allow guests to simply tap and enjoy the experience.

7. The VIP Experience

It just gets better with RFID. Not only does it make access to VIP-only areas easier and far more discreet, but VIP RFIDs can genuinely get the extra attention you want them to have. From entry upgrades to food, drinks, and VIP only areas, RFID makes it possible to make sure your attendees are happier than ever.

8. Simplify Check-in

Why wait in line when you just don’t have to? If you choose to order your badges early, your guests get their wristbands delivered right to their home—allowing for their event experience to start months, weeks, or days before the doors even open

On-site, RFID bands mean check-in is faster and easier than ever. With a mobile app, your staff can assign a specific RFID tag to an attendee on the spot, not having to deal with printing out a ticket, dealing with day-of chaos, or any other potential hiccup. It gets attendees inside faster and that, ultimately, makes a happier guest and a better event.

9. The Cool Factor

It’s hard to say it without just saying it, but RFID credentials are cool. Guests know what they are and they know it means your event will immediately reach a level it could never have without. Not only are they a great souvenir, but they create extremely social-media worthy moments from the instant your guests receive them.

10. Know Your Attendees

By collecting data about your attendees, you’re able to make their experience at your event tailored and specific. By knowing how far out most sales happen, how many tickets are purchased together, when they arrive, when they leave, what they buy, etc. you’re able to make sure your event delivers on your guests needs without them even having to ask.

Even better, RFID enhanced bands ask attendees to register their wristbands, linking their emails, social media, wallet and more. This makes it possible to easily contact them in the future for events, follow up surveys, and more.

Improve Security at Your Next Event

Enhancing the security of your event really starts with your credentials. As one of the first points of contact between a guest and your event, your hotel, or your office, unique credentials are an easy deterrent for potential fakes.

To learn more about how you can enhance security at your event — whether by adding RFID enhanced technology, customizing your artwork, or something else—please get in touch with a sales representative at [email protected]